The locked room on Blake Street
He weighed 68 pounds when firefighters brought him out. He told them he had lit the fire himself, and why.
- When
- Alleged, 2005 to February 17, 2025
- Where
- Blake Street, Waterbury, Connecticut
- Status
- Charged, awaiting trial
Content note alleged child abuse, starvation, captivity. No graphic images.
In brief
On February 17, 2025, firefighters were called to a house fire at 2 Blake Street in Waterbury, Connecticut. Inside they found a 31-year-old man, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 68 pounds, who told first responders he had set the fire on purpose because he wanted his freedom. He told police his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, had kept him locked in a small room for most of two decades, since he was about 11, with little food or water. Sullivan was arrested on March 12, 2025, and charged with kidnapping, assault, unlawful restraint and cruelty. She has pleaded not guilty, denies ever locking him in, and is free on bond. In September 2026 she rejected a plea offer, and the case is headed to a jury trial. The man, who goes by "S," has said he will testify.
Turning pointHe told first responders he had started the fire himself, with printer paper, hand sanitizer and a lighter. "I wanted my freedom."
- Survivor
- Her stepson, 31 at the time of the fire, identified publicly only as "S"
- Accused
- Kimberly Sullivan, 56 at arrest; charged, not convicted
- The room
- About 8 by 9 feet, with no heat or air conditioning and a slide lock on the outside of the door frame, police said
- Condition
- About 68 pounds at 5 feet 9 inches, severely emaciated, according to the warrant
- Arrest
- March 12, 2025; released on $300,000 bond with GPS monitoring
- Status
- Awaiting jury trial as of September 2026
Timeline
Early 2005
He is in fourth grade at Barnard Elementary in Waterbury. By his account, he is so hungry that he takes food from the garbage, and school officials contact the authorities. By spring he has missed so much school that former classmates call the state Department of Children and Families, fearing he may have died.
April 1, 2005
A Waterbury officer visits the house at DCF's request. He writes that the boy "appeared to be healthy and happy" and the home "appeared normal and lived in."
April 18, 2005
Police return after his father, Kregg Sullivan, complains that the school principal is harassing the family by calling agencies. No further action is recorded.
2005
He stops attending school after Sullivan tells the district he will be homeschooled, school records show. He tells police he was permanently removed after the second police visit.
2005 to 2025
He tells police that from about age 11 or 12 he was locked in a small room for 22 to 24 hours a day, let out for chores, and given two sandwiches and a little water a day. He says he last left the property at 14 or 15, with his father.
More than a decade earlier
A neighbor, Shae Baker, later recalls seeing a little boy at the back window of the house while she was on a swing set. He smiled and waved, she waved back, and when she looked again he was gone.
2024
His father dies. He tells police his conditions got worse afterward.
February 17, 2025About 8 p.m.
Using a lighter from his late father's jacket and hand sanitizer, he sets fire to printer paper and games on the floor of the room. Firefighters carry him out, police say. He tells them he set the fire because he wanted his freedom. Sullivan also gets out.
March 12, 2025
Sullivan is arrested in Southington and charged with second-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment. She posts $300,000 bond.
March 28, 2025
She pleads not guilty. A judge orders GPS monitoring but denies the state's request for house arrest.
March 12, 2026
The state upgrades the kidnapping charge to two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
September 4, 2026
Sullivan rejects a plea deal and chooses a jury trial. Attorneys expect jury selection as soon as January, with trial in February.
The full story
What happened
Around 8 p.m. on February 17, 2025, a fire started in an upstairs room of a two-story house at 2 Blake Street in Waterbury, Connecticut. Kimberly Sullivan, 56, who owned the home, got out. Firefighters found a man inside. He was 31 and 5 feet 9 inches tall, and he weighed about 68 pounds. One responder said he looked 13 or 14.
The man told first responders he had started the fire himself, using a lighter he found in his late father’s jacket, hand sanitizer and printer paper. He said he did it because he wanted his freedom. A prosecutor later said he lit it knowing he could die.
What he told police
He is Sullivan’s stepson. He has never been publicly named and goes by “S.”
According to the arrest warrant, he told police that he was hungry all through his childhood, that he scavenged for food and ate out of the garbage at school, and that after school officials contacted state child welfare workers, he was taken out of fourth grade. From then on, he said, he was kept in a storage room about 8 feet by 9 feet, with a slanted ceiling and no heat or air conditioning, for 22 to 24 hours a day. He was let out to do chores. He said he was given two sandwiches and a small amount of water a day, and that sometimes he drank from the toilet.
He said the last time he left the property was at 14 or 15, with his father. When his father died in 2024, he said, things got worse. Police found a slide lock on the outside of the door frame and wrote that it could be used to keep someone inside.
Missed chances
In April 2005, after former schoolmates told the state Department of Children and Families they were afraid the boy had died, a Waterbury police officer went to the house. He spoke to the boy and wrote that he appeared healthy and happy. Weeks later, police returned because the boy’s father complained that the school principal kept calling agencies about the family. The principal, Tom Pannone, has said he reported his concerns and nothing was done.
A neighbor, Shae Baker, said that years ago she saw a little boy waving from the back window of the house. When she looked again he was gone, and she came to believe she had made him up.
The case
Sullivan was arrested on March 12, 2025, and released on $300,000 bond. She has pleaded not guilty. Through her lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, she denies that her stepson was ever locked in or restrained and says the case rests on one person’s word. In March 2026 prosecutors upgraded the charges to two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
In September 2026, Sullivan turned down a plea deal. Her trial is expected to begin in early 2027, and S’s attorney says he will testify. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
What the video couldn't include
The police visit in 2005
Waterbury police records released to Connecticut Public show an officer checked on the boy in April 2005 after schoolmates told the state they feared he had died. The officer spoke with him and found nothing to act on. The former principal, Tom Pannone, told NBC Connecticut he reported his concerns: "Not a damn thing was done."
Why he never told anyone
He told police he was warned he would "never see the light of day" if he spoke out, and that the threat of less food and longer lockdowns kept him quiet. He said he was made to tell authorities everything was OK.
How he kept track of time
He told police he counted cars outside the window and followed the days with a calendar and a radio, listening to NASCAR, UConn basketball and the news. Investigators noted he did not know how to use a microwave or an iPad.
What he says happened during the fire
According to the warrant, he tried to get Sullivan's attention by telling her the radio had malfunctioned. He said she opened the door after he yelled that there was a fire, that he collapsed from smoke at the top of the stairs, and that he heard her yelling for a screwdriver to remove door locks. In her 911 call she said her stepson "did something with the TV." He told police there was no television, only a radio.
What the defense says
Sullivan's attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, says she never locked or restrained her stepson, that the allegations rest on one person's statements, and that the defense has questioned the weight recorded when he was found. The judge has ordered his medical records shared with the defense.
He calls himself S
The stepson has never been publicly named. He chose to be called "S," which he said was the first of many choices he would make now that he is free. His attorney says he plans to testify.
The video and the record
The episode tells this case in about 3 minutes with illustrated recreations. Here is how its key moments line up with what is documented.
A man who stood five feet nine inches tall but weighed only about sixty-nine pounds
Compressed
The warrant and police give 68 pounds. Other reports say 69 or 70. The defense disputes the recorded weight.
He used printer paper, hand sanitizer, and a lighter, setting the fire near the door
Compressed
The materials are documented. Reporting on the warrant places the fire on the floor of the room; its position relative to the door is not stated in our sources.
"I wanted my freedom."
Documented
His statement to first responders, according to police.
Police found a slide lock on the outside of the doorframe
Documented
From the arrest warrant. The defense says there is no evidence he was ever locked in.
Removed from school in the fourth grade, when he was eleven
Documented
His account to police. School records show he stopped attending Barnard Elementary in 2005.
Two cups of water a day, and drank from the toilet
Documented
His account to police, from the warrant.
A neighbor saw a little boy smiling and waving
Documented
Shae Baker's account to WFSB.
He stayed on the floor so firefighters would be forced to come for him
Dramatized
Not in our sources. Reporting on the warrant says Sullivan opened the door after he yelled and he collapsed at the top of the stairs.
The house, the window, the room
Reconstruction
AI-generated illustrations. The survivor has not been identified or photographed publicly, and no likeness is shown.
What the four marks mean
- Documented
- Shown as it is recorded in court filings, police statements, or consistent reporting.
- Reconstruction
- A reasonable visual recreation of a documented event. The event happened; the image is illustrative.
- Compressed
- Real events shortened, merged, or reordered to fit the runtime.
- Dramatized
- A storytelling choice (framing, wording, emphasis) that the record does not establish.
Sources
- [1]WFSB / Gray News“Man held captive for 20 years escaped by setting fire to room, police say: 'I wanted my freedom'”
- [2]Times Union / Hearst Connecticut Media“Waterbury woman held stepson captive for decades, police say”
- [3]CNN“Kimberly Sullivan, Connecticut woman accused of holding stepson captive, pleads not guilty”
- [4]Connecticut Public“Report: Classmates feared Waterbury stepson allegedly held captive 'may have died'”Based on Waterbury police records released under public records law.
- [5]NBC News“Judge grants Connecticut woman accused of holding stepson captive access to his new alias, address”
- [6]WFSB“Waterbury stepmom faces upgraded kidnapping charges one year after arrest”
- [7]NBC Connecticut“Decades Unseen: The Waterbury Captivity Case”Draws on the arrest warrant, school records and police reports.
- [8]WFSB“Waterbury kidnapping case: Sullivan rejects plea deal, heads to trial”
SourcedFacts in this file come from the reporting listed above. Some details are still waiting on primary records. Last reviewed September 12, 2026. How we check cases
